Monthly Archives: September 2015

HBU made the long trip to Halifax with a pretty minimalist team of 6 players and Ed Mount the only goalkeeper. Of the regular squad, 2 (Lewis Greenwood and Josh Branchett) were in Spain at the U20 World Championships with the England team and Fabio Vicente could not change his shift for the match. This first match of the season saw Joe Singleton’s return after a lay off and Nigel Mills making a Premier League appearance for the first time in 18 years.

Travelling to Halifax was a nightmare with the A1 closed due to an accident which meant a long diversion to the M1 which has miles of roadworks. Fortunately, the home team had enough rink time to accommodate a late arrival but the HBU players were not in the best of shape. On the other hand Halifax were well up for the match and had signed a high class Spanish player from Manchester.

On last season’s results HBU were clear favourites to have a comfortable win and started confidently with most of the possession but unable to overcome the Halifax tight defence on a small rink which left few angles to beat the goalkeeper. The Halifax system enabled them to use HBU’s attempts on goal as a springboard to counter-attack which led to several shaky moments around HBU’s goal and a penalty which Mount saved.

HBU had to rely heavily on experience and patience and after 10 minutes Joe Singleton scored the first goal of the season with a beautifully flighted shot with the Halifax keeper off guard. HBU continued to dominate the half but lacked sharpness, probably as a result of the journey. As the half closed it all got very sloppy with Halifax equalising with 3 minutes remaining and Barker restoring HBU’s lead a minute afterwards. Jordi Saldana managed to put HBU in front with 5 seconds remaining on the clock. Half-time 3 – 2 to HBU.

With HBU tiring it was difficult to see how HBU was going to open up Halifax any better in the 2nd half so a cautious approach was needed, trying to eke out a better margin to get the substitutes into the match as legs tired. On the other hand Halifax were full of energy and sensing that they could cause an upset they were not prepared to sit back and let HBU play the ball around. 10 minutes into the half they levelled and then stole the ball by pressure on HBU’s last defender and went 4 – 3 up. Fortunately, Barker immediately scored back to level it again.

Making substitutions was now extremely difficult because anyone coming on would have to find their feet instantly and make an impact upfront without compromising the defence. As it happened the decision was made for HBU as Singleton took a heavy knock on his foot and had to come off for treatment. An infringement saw Halifax awarded a direct free-hit which Mount saved. HBU were then given the ball due to an infringement by Halifax and took the chance to attack and score (Singleton back on), 5 – 4 to HBU.

The team foul count was mounting and HBU were awarded a direct free-hit and a chance to put some daylight in the score-line but it was not converted. HBU now reached 10 team fouls and Halifax scored from the direct free-hit, level pegging again, 5 – 5.

With 5 minutes to go HBU’s experience paid off and Neil Austin put them a goal in front again. Halifax threw everything at it and reached 15 team fouls. Barker scored from the resulting direct free-hit which gave HBU a two goal margin and they simply stayed out of trouble for the last 3 minutes.

A great match for the spectators, full of excitement for Halifax and a very nervous start to the season by HBU.

HBU’s Under 14 team attended a competition at the Licthstadt club of Eindhoven, Holland 12 and 13 Sept.

First game was against Recklinghausen of Germany,Ttking a 2-0 lead HBU commanded most of the game and eventually ran out 3-1 winners.
Second match against Stripj of Holland saw United play some superb hockey and went on to score 13 without answer. Final game on Sat evening saw HBU brush aside home side Licthstadt 6-0.
First match Sun morning HBU played Antwerp, a new club taking part in their first ever tournament, they put up a valliant effort by the Belgians could not stop United scoring 25 without reply.

Uniteds final game was against Dusseldorf of Germany who had only lost 1 game to their fellow countrymen and a win for them could put them ino second place, but United were now playing a great passing and skating game and ran out 10-0 winners.
A great weekend with all players scoring and only conceding 1 goal in 5 matches thanks to brilliant goalkeeping. Oliver Sunnucks made his United debut with flying colours.

HBU Artistic Section entered Solo dance events, Twosome Duo’s, Solo Teams of 3 and also Inter-club duos. The team skated in 8 out of the 14 competitions that were held.

Melanie Harwin and Kym Marsh who are the Artistic Section coaches have been working hard since February 2015 to improve the standard of skating within the section and attract new members into the section.

Both coaches received compliments from the judges regarding the HBU Artistic Section on their footwork, their technical accuracy and the noticeable improvement to the Artistic Sections standard.

Mel and Kym both commented on “how proud they were of the artistic team and how pleased they were that all skaters supported each other throughout the day. True team spirit was shown and needs to be recognised as this is at the core of HBU”.

The results were amazing having been going to competitions and being in the bottom of the events the team are now achieving either podium places or near misses.

Scarlett won her Inter-club duo with Dolly achieving 2nd in the same event. Bethany came 4th in her Inter-club event which was for a higher standard. This event has been introduced by the Kent Club to encourage good friendships between clubs.

Scarlett also achieved a 4th in her Non-medallist solo dance event having been placed 3rd by one of the judges in the panel. Dolly also achieved a 5th in this event. The HBU Coaches said that “the girls skated so well and with such confidence. Great results.”

The newcomers team HBU Chicks (Lily, Ella and Esme) were placed 4th in their event. Again a fantastic result as all members of this team have only been competing for less than 1 year.

Beth who competed in the up to bronze solo dance event was placed 13th. Her coaches said that “this was a great performance and a fantastic boost to her confidence. Well done Beth.”

Another new event that the Kent Club introduced was the Twosome Duo event. Each skater is required to skate a dance each and then the scores are combined to find a final result.

The Artistic Section trains at The Bay Sports Arena on a Saturday morning from 8.30am to 10am and a Tuesday evening form 6pm to 8pm. Anyone looking to improve their skating skills or wishes to learn to skate should contact Kym on kym@hernebayunited.co.uk.

Our Social skating section runs a session on a Friday evening at The Bay Spots Arena from 7pm to 9pm. If you would like to try skating then please come along. Visitors get 2 free sessions (excluding skate hire £2.20). We have general skating, a raffle, speed skating and then a roller disco with 3D disco lights, laser lights and glow sticks are available. The whole family is welcome to come and end the week with some great fun time.